Directions: After shampooing, apply generously and comb through for even distribution. Leave in for 3 minutes. Rinse. Style as desired.

Scent: Now I don’t think I have ever smelled anything that was hibiscus scented however, I don’t really think this product smells like coconut so I gonna say it smells like hibiscus, either way the scent is pleasant and not too overwhelming.

Availability: This product is only available at select Targets (click here for store listings). I purchased this product from the Target in Colombia Heights in Washington DC. I made a special trip to this Target because according to the list no Target in Massachusetts is carrying the new SheaMoisture products. This weekend I am at the Target in South Bay (Dorchester, MA) this past weekend to scoop up items from the Parabal Gurung for Target collection and what do I spy in the hair care section…this product and the coconut and hibiscus co-wash conditioning cleanser. So if you are in Massachusetts and want to try these products now you know of at least one Target which carries them.

Price:Unfortunately, I bought this a while back and can’t remember the exact price $9.99 or $11.99.

Don’t Believe Hype?Believe it kind of…

Final Thoughts:I hadn’t used any products from the SheaMoisture Coconut & Hibiscus line so I was excited to try this product. Overall, I think it’s a really good product, again the smell is pleasant, the consistency is thick which I like since hair is pretty dense. My hair felt moisturized after I’d rinsed the product out. Would I buy the product again? I doubt it. Again this is a really good conditioner however, it a rinse out conditioner, it is not a deep conditioner nor is it a leave- in. Now, I am a hard-core product junkie and am always up for buying products however, I can’t justify spending $9.99 -$11.99 on a conditioner that I apply to my hair for 3 minutes and then rinse out. If I was able to use this product as leave in spite of what the label/directions say I would buy it again. However, the product has silk protein in it and I am afraid it may eventually result in dry, brittle hair.

I hope you all had a good weekend! To my New England beauties I hope you and your loved ones made it through the storm safe and sound.

This weekend didn’t just bring about the fifth largest storm in the history in Boston’s history it also brought about the release of the Prabal Gurgung for Target collection! While most people would shop online in the confines of their warm, cozy home, I decided to physically go to Target to shop the collection. Snowstorm be damned! After searching the inventory of my closest Target stores, I realized the I would have to drive to the Dorchester or South Bay Target for my Gurung fix.

After some slipping and sliding across the roads my sister and I arrived at Target with full expectations of shopping till we dropped. Needless to say we shopped, but we didn’t drop. I picked up two pieces the sweatshirt in First Date (aka floral) print and the long sleeve t-shirt in Nolita print.

My sister purchased the same long sleeve Nolita print t-shirt in addition to the Nolita print shirt dress.

My review of the overall collection

When I first saw the lookbook for this collection I was very excited but you know how it can go, the lookbook makes you super excited then you head to the store and the pieces just don’t speak to you in the same way. However, upon seeing this collection in the stores I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it. I was hoping to purchase more items for the collection however, the Target I went to did not have the full collection in stock and unfortunately by the time I arrived at the store which was only around 1pm quite a few things I liked were sold out in my size. According to Target employees what was on the floor was all that was available. The collection also ran a bit large so I wasn’t able to just go up a size. Overall, I feel it was a solid collection, fantastic prints, pretty good materials all for a reasonable price.The collection is pretty much sold out-online and from what I understand Target will not be restocking the any of the items.

If you didn’t already know I live in Massachusetts and we are going to have a wicked stawm this weekend. Since I haven’t done a product review in a while and I’ll pretty much be snowed in for a greater part of the weekend. I have decided to play in products so that I can do some product reviews. However, the question is what products should I review, and that is where you ladies come in. I would like for you to tell me what products you would like to see reviewed.

Normally I try to restrict my blog to posts about natural hair and fashion but last weekend was my birthday weekend and it was so crazy I had to share the story. For the record my birthday was Sunday but my sister decided that I would have a birthday weekend extravaganza and we would get turnt up all weekend long.

Friday

Friday night my sister and best friend and I went to a restaurant/night club in Cambridge, MA called Naga. It was freezing outside and the line was ridiculous considering there were no people inside. How did I know that there were no people inside well I could see into the place and it was empty. After standing outside in freezing temperatures for what seemed like an eternity we were finally let in and the misadventure that was to be my weekend began. The place was your typical nightclub, overcrowded, people dancing like they were trying to make babies right then and there, guys walking around holding personal bottles of liquor while wearing sunglasses at night in the club; the usual. I was having a good time, dancing with my sister and her roommate and then it happened some guy reached up (he was short and I was wearing heels) and put his hand in my hair. Seriously, if we were on a television show it would be the moment where the music stops and everyone stares at the culprit while I shouted, “Oh hell no.” But it wasn’t a television show and people are crazy so I bent down and tersely but politely told him, “You don’t touch people’s hair.” Now ladies, Lola (my hair) was looking extra fly that night (all weekend to be exact ) but still. He apologized and we went on with the night.

Saturday

My sister organized a surprise get together for me at the Emerald Lounge in the Revere Hotel and we couldn’t get in! This place is the absolute worse, an overly pretentious lounge that I will never visit again. The doormen told us a half an hour we should be in the club, then that changed to a few more minutes. They kept us in line for an hour and a half only to shut the door down. Half of my party was in the line with me while the other half was inside the lounge. The saddest part was that the people who were leaving the nightclub were coming out and saying how the club was super whack and totally not worth waiting in line for. I really wanted to leave but since half of my party was already inside and had paid for parking I just waited and waited to get to the front of the line only for the doormen to say the door was closed. It was awful. I won’t even go into specifics about how I ended up at some supposed house warming which turned out to be a house party of epic hood proportions and the worst 40 minutes of my life. I’m talking people standing on furniture, weed smoking in a bed room, girl on girl action, culminating in a stolen cellphone and a promise to start banging on people -I don’t even know what that means.

Sunday

Sunday, my actual birthday was a relaxing day. My mother, sister and I went to Stephi’s on Tremont St. and had brunch then went home and crashed.

I’d been contemplating hennaing my hair for quite sometime but was hesitant, tired of plucking the gray hairs from my temples I figured it was time to give henna a try. I purchased my henna and my indigo from Henna Sooq, after reading really good reviews of the company. I purchased the Lush Brown Kit which contained 100 grams of Organic Rajasthani henna (you can pick from various types of henna) and 100 grams of indigo. I also purchased a sample of the Henna Sooq Sweet Honey Shampoo Bar and an 8oz container of the Sweet Honey Enriching Hair Nourisher. I will review those products in another post but for now let’s talk henna.

I kept my henna mix really simple, I used lemon juice to release the dye and a little extra virgin olive oil for moisture and to help the henna rinse out easier.

My mixture is lumpy in the pic but I did smooth it out more before applying.

I made my henna mixture around 7AM and didn’t apply it until around 11PM that same evening. Because it was so late, I applied the henna to my hair then wrapped my hair in saran wrap, a plastic cap, and then my scarf and went to bed.

Hope you didn’t think you were going to see me with saran wrap on my head…no ma’am!

When I woke up I rinsed out the henna and created my indigo mix. I had read that henna can be incredibly difficult to rinse out however, I had no trouble removing the henna from my hair. I think because I added the evoo to my mixture and I didn’t apply the henna very thickly.

Do you see how black my hair is, “Yeah boy”(Flava Flav voice). I kept the indigo in my hair for 4 hours. I wasn’t a fan of the smell but I applied it to my hair, saran wrapped and plastic capped and donned my scarf again. This stuff stains! My black and gray pillow cases definitely had spots on them so be careful. I rinsed out the indigo, co-washed with Trader Joe’s Nourishspa then deep conditioned with the Henna Sooq Sweet Honey Enriching Hair Nourisher. Since henna treatments can be drying I deep conditioned for around 2 hours.

My results!

Although it doesn’t seem that way in the picture my hair was pretty black, it had a bit more hang (possibly imagined) and less frizz. I am definitely going to start incorporating henna into my regimen, primarily for the color. However, I do have fine hair around my nape and sides so hopefully it will help with that. My hair did feel a bit dry even with the deep conditioning, nothing too serious. Next time I’ll try a different deep conditioner next time and make sure to co-wash a little more frequently in the subsequent weeks after a henna/indigo treatment. Also, I didn’t use the whole 100 grams or henna or indigo so I have enough for another treatment, YAY!

Target is seriously trying to become my favorite store! It has recently been announced that Karen Tappin, founder of Karen’s Body Beautiful is bringing her products to Target. Yes, I said Karen’s Body Beautiful will be in select Target stores starting in February. Are you excited? I know I am! I am also a bit worried about my pockets. I haven’t used any of her products but have heard really good things so I am hoping they are available in a Target near me…a girl can dream right? I don’t have a list of which Target stores the products will be available but as soon as I do you know I will post the information.

When I first became natural, correction when my hair finally grew long enough for me to pluck a strand from my head, I did the hair strand sink/float test to check my hair’s porosity. I’d found mentions of this method to test porosity on just about every natural hair website and forum I came across. Naturally, (no pun intended) I assumed the test was a pretty accurate way to test porosity until yesterday when I came across a post on http://www.thenaturalhavenbloom.com/ which made me question whether the sink/float porosity test is really just junk science. Quick aside- if your not sure what porosity has to do with hair, basically it’s the measure of how your hair will absorb and hold moisture.

Ok so many of you write to me about porosity tests. These are the suggestions that you can test to see how porous your hair is by placing a few strands in water, wait for 10 minutes and see if the hair floats or sinks.

I have often said that I do believe that these type of tests are really very poor and very unscientific. Let me explain why:

1. Hair in general will almost always float in water.

Many of you doing this test will note that your hair will float for ages and it may take some prodding to make it sink if it does at all. This is because hair is generally covered in oil. This oil is naturally produced sebum and any extra that you may use in your hair care routine will have an added impact. Now oil will always float on water, so your hair floating does not mean that it has low porosity. It does mean that your hair is light (which it is) and has a coating of oil that repels water (which it does).

2. What would happen if you washed off the oil on hair using shampoo then performed the test?

If you chose to do the test with hair that is freshly washed but not conditioned then that is really an artificial test because you would normally apply conditioner after a shampoo (Of course if you only shampoo then this test is not artificial for you). For most people hair will still float because there is usually still some residual oil.

3. Warm water or cold water?

Some say the temperature of the water does not matter but on a scientific level this is probably not true. The reason for this is

– Hair has a thin oil coating (warm/hot water removes oil to some extent)
– Hair is protein (most proteins will have small changes in structure if temperature changes)

However, the most likely observation that most people will have with a single strand of hair is that it will float.

4. If hair sinks, is this because it has taken up water?

If you place hair strands in water they are going to take up water, this is a fact and this is normal. The more your hair takes up water, the heavier it will get but it may still float because of the oil coating. Hair could indeed sink and many relate this to damage (bleaching or relaxing hair for example makes the cuticle more porous) but it could also be that your hair is naturally dense (i.e naturally weighs more).

So is there a scientific test to know how porous hair is?

Yes, there is and much like the proven tests to see if oil penetrates hair, it is a lab based test that is generally not an easy or cheap method to do. It is called gas sorption and involves detecting the flow of a gas (or air) through hair. It has been used to show that bleaching and UV damage do both indeed greatly change the porosity of hair ( Journal of cosmetic science 59.4 (2008): 303)

Is there a home – test for porosity?

There is no single test that I would say is reliable. Many people think that hair repelling water is a bad thing but it really is not, it is excellent. It means your hair has its oil coating and is working well. The oil coating cannot fully block out water coming in or out, it is a permeable barrier.

I do absolutely advocate for people to reject or accept products based on how they work. If a product leads your hair to be constantly dry, leave it. If a product makes your hair too mushy, stop using it. Find products that work by trusting yourself and your hair.

About Me!

I'm Barbie. A natural hair and style blogger, makeup enthuisast, wine loving, world traveling, all around fly girls whose given name really is Barbie. This is a blog about my life and my style, co-starring my hair (her name is Lola).